Eden Valley Railway
| Eden Valley Railway | |
|
Westmorland | |
|---|---|
.jpg)
| |
| Gauge: | standard |
| Track: | 2¼ miles |
| Headquarters: | Warcop |
| Information | |
| Owned by: | Eden Valley Railway Society |
The Eden Valley Railway is a heritage railway running for six miles along the valley of the River Eden in Westmorland. In doing so it preserves a part of the former Eden Valley Railway which ran up the valley between Clifton Junction near Penrith and Kirkby Stephen by way of Appleby-in-Westmorland.
Passenger traffic ended in 1962 and the line was reduced to the track between the junction at Appleby station with the Settle-Carlisle Line and Kirkby Stephen which served a quarry. By 1976 all that was left was six miles of track between Appleby and Flitholme which was used infrequently by the Army at Warcop
In 1995 the Eden Valley Railway Society was formed with the aim of re-instating services and restoring on the line. Heritage railway services resumed in 2006 between Warcop and Sandford, with an extension of half a mile being opened in 2013, giving a current running line of almost two and a quarter miles.
History
Background
Before the 1840s, several schemes had been proposed which would have run to the Eden Valley, all abandoned. Eventually in 1857 a private Act of Parliament was obtained authorising South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway,[1] and that for the Eden Valley Railway came soon after in 1858. Construction of the 22-mile line began on 4 August 1858, the first sod turned by Lord Brougham. The line was built as a single track line and was worked by the Stockton and Darlington Railway from its inception, it opened for mineral trains on 8 April 1862, and for passengers on 9 June the same year.
During the construction of the railway, in 1861, an Act of Parliament permitted the construction of a linking railway the Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway, which opened in 1865, bringing the industrial products of western Cumberland onto the line. During the 1870s the Settle and Carlisle Railway was being constructed, which also ran through the upper Eden Valley.
Between 1923 and 1948 the line was part of the London and North Eastern Railway and in 1948 it was nationalised with the rest of the rail network.
The line from Clifton to Appleby was also closed, and, from 1963 points east of Appleby could only be reached via the junction with the Settle and Carlisle railway at Appleby. Freight trains still ran from Appleby to Kirkby Stephen and then to Hartley Quarry.[2] In 1974 that service ended and the track was removed except for ~9 km between Appleby and Warcop. Trains for the Warcop Training Area north of Warcop village ran until 1989.
Preservation - the Eden Valley Railway Society
The Eden Valley Railway Trust was formed in 1985 to undertake railway operations. On 3 August 2004 the Eden Valley Railway Order 2004 came into action, allowing rail operation on the 5.8-mile track from Appleby to Flitholme near Warcop.[3]
The railway operates passenger trains from April to September (2013).[4]
Rolling stock
The Eden Valley Railway has mostly ex-British Rail built rolling stock including Diesel-Electric Multiple Units British Rail Class 205 unit 205009 and Electric Multiple Units British Rail Class 411 units 2311 and 2315 and British Rail Class 419 units 9003 and 9005, British Rail Class 37 number 37042 and Class 47 number 47799. Also on site are several ex industrial shunters: Robert Stephenson & Hawthorn 8343 (0-6-0DH "Darlington"), Fowler 4220045 (0-4-0DH), Hunslet 2389 (0-4-0DM), Thomas Hill 130c (0-4-0DH) and Drewry Cars 2181 (0-4-0DM) in addition to a number of freight wagons and a 15-ton railway crane.
The Railway does have a steam locomotive, in the form of industrial 0-4-0ST "Askham Hall". The ex Lakeside & Haverthwaite Rly locomotive is currently at Threlkeld quarry & mining museum having the asbestos removed.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Eden Valley Railway) |
References
- ↑ The North Eastern Railway; its rise and development, William Weaver Tomlinson, p.561
- ↑ Hartley Quarry location: 54°28’11"N, 2°19’36"W
- ↑ The Eden Valley Railway Order 2004, Statutory Instruments, 2004 No. 1817, Office for Public Sector Information, www.opsi.gov.uk
- ↑ "Eden Valley Railway Timetable and Fares for 2012", www.evr-cumbria.org.uk, http://www.evr-cumbria.org.uk/edenvalleytimetable.html, retrieved April 2012
Sources
- A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain, Volume 4: The North East, K. Hoole, 3rd Edition, 1986
- The North Eastern Railway, Cecil J. Allen, 1974
- The North Eastern Railway; its rise and development, William Weaver Tomlinson, 1915, on 'archive.org'